


A Million Dreams

by Faye_Claudia



Series: Where the Runaways are Running the Night [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Inspired by The Greatest Showman (2017), Night Terrors, Race to the Edge references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faye_Claudia/pseuds/Faye_Claudia
Summary: "We can live in a world that we design"





	A Million Dreams

“Well,” Hiccup started, when they landed. The island they were on was rocky, with more cliffs than grass, but enough foliage to build a shelter for the night before they kept moving, “This looks serviceable.”

 

Astrid dismounted Stormfly and tossed over her shoulder “duh, I found it,” before disappearing into the forest, trusting that the boy and the dragons would follow.

Hiccup marked the island’s location to his rough map, intending to one day draw a fully developed version of his and Astrid’s findings.

 

“You know,” Hiccup said, still focused on his notebook, still seated on Toothless – letting his dragon do the walking for him. “This is the farthest outside the Archipelago I think anyone on Berk has ever been. We should name this island.”

 

“We’re not letting Toothless name it this time.” Astrid was – and always would be more warrior than explorer, with no further interest in the islands they landed on, other than the protection they provided.

 

“Itchy Armpit was a great name.” Hiccup protested, ignoring Astrid’s snickering. The four of them managed to set up camp under a cluster of trees that would shelter them from the wind. It was Stormfly who set the fire this time, and Hiccup and Toothless who caught the fish that the dragons ate raw, and that the humans roasted over Stormfly’s fire. They had perfected a routine over the last few months; they traded dragon scales that their dragons shed for items such as warmer clothing, paper for Hiccup, weapons, tools, leather and other supplies they needed in order to survive at markets and trading posts in the archipelago that they knew weren’t frequented by any Berk residents, every night they found a new island to make camp, and every morning they left, setting off on a new adventure.

 

It had been exciting at first, the novelty of a parentless existence, to not have to bother with chores or blacksmithing or dragon training – the deadly kind. Hiccup was chronicling a new Book of Dragons – one that held more accurate and helpful descriptions and notes on how to approach dragons and how to befriend them. But as the months dragged on, it became less exciting and more tiresome to find a new place to sleep every night. Though neither one would admit it, they were homesick, and they missed their families.

 

Astrid woke in the middle of the night to find a tiny dragon – not unlike a Terrible Terror – looming over her, its wings sending mild gusts of wind over her face and neck.

“Hey little guy...” Astrid sat up slowly. He was white, with a horned snout and curious eyes. “Are we in your territory? We don’t want to hurt you, we’re just spending the night, I promise.” The little dragon nudged at her, so she petted him, the same way she’d pet her Uncle Finn’s crazy old cat Brunhilde. He nuzzled into her touch for a few heartbeats, before rearing back, and with a screech that woke Hiccup, took off into the night sky, only to have a hundred other tiny dragons – just like him, but darker in colour -  take off from the trees and follow him. Astrid and Hiccup watched in awe as the tiny dragons organized themselves into the shape of Stormfly, who shook her deadly spines in an appreciative manner – the vain dragon probably liked having her image imitated. The image shifted then, into Toothless’ form, and Toothless let out a bark-growl-sound that meant he liked what was going on.

 

“What just happened?” Hiccup asked, when the dragons had landed and were now curiously inspecting Astrid, Stormfly, Hiccup and Toothless. After Astrid explained the bizarre experience of waking up to the tiny white dragon – the leader, she surmised – Hiccup started examining the creatures more closely, muttering things like “stoker class” and “flock-oriented” and “double horned”.

 

“Hiccup, that…uh…show, does that mean they’ve accepted us?”

 

“I think it was their way of welcoming us.” Hiccup scratched under the white one’s chin, just behind it’s lower horn, and he purred.

 

“Do you think, maybe, we could stay here? I mean, it’s easily defendable, and you said yourself that it’s right on the edge of the archipelago and it’s likely that Berk’s given up looking for us, right?” two of the black dragons decided to perch on her shoulders.

 

“I…you’re right, we should set up some sort of permanent residence, I think. And this is as good a place as any. I doubt my dad cares enough to sail all the way out here.” Astrid took note of the defeated look in his eyes at the mention of his father, before they suddenly light up. “Night Terrors.”

 

“Uh…what?” Astrid shifted so that she was leaning against Stormfly, dislodging the tiny dragons that had picked her as their perch.

 

“Night Terrors. That’s what we’ll call these little guys.” Toothless nudged at his human – probably realizing that his human’s attention was on dragons that weren’t him and not liking it.  “They’ll be our sentinels, they can keep guard over us, like they do the island.”

 

“So…we’re staying?”

 

“Yeah, I think it’s time we had a home again, don’t you?” Hiccup gave Astrid that stupid half-grin of his that was too cute to actually be on the face of a chief’s son. Astrid grinned back, baring her teeth.

 

Dragon’s Edge was a tiny settlement that took the two teenagers about a year to complete. Astrid had insisted on a watch tower, Hiccup on a forge – slash workshop. There was a single hut that stood proudly, the ground floor of it serving as a communal area, while the loft above it was divided in half by a thick woolen tapestry. One side held Hiccup’s bed and a slab of granite for Toothless to curl up on, the other side set up similarly for Stormfly and Astrid. It wasn’t much, and it didn’t stop the loneliness and homesickness, but it was a home that they had built for themselves and it served its purpose. If Hiccup was honest, he hoped that one day they would find other misfits and runaways like them, and that they could help them create a home for themselves on Dragon’s Edge too. He wanted to build a community of Dragon Riders, a village that lived peacefully side by side with the beautiful creatures he’d come to love. Until then, he had his best friends, and new dragons to discover and befriend.

 

 

 


End file.
